Any self-employed moms out there? (specifically financial advisors?)

hoff079

Hi ladies, I have a bit of a unique situation.  I'm an independent financial advisor - I have a succession plan if I get hit by a bus but I don't have anyone who can fill in for me temporarily so that I can take maternity leave.  It gets really tricky from a compensation standpoint, and it's a liability to have someone come in and provide advice to your clients when they don't know them.  This is my first, and probably only, child so I want to enjoy having some time off!  I don't know what to do though!  Has anyone else been in this situation?

meggyme

Idk much about that, but could you tell your clients that you will be reducing your workload for X months/weeks and take care of any big things before hand then have your backup maintain the accounts? Maybe introduce them to the backup if they need reassurance.

nackie

How much in person time do you spend with each client?  I know with ours, we meet quarterly unless something big comes up and even then we handle almost everything else via email.  I know if ours told us they needed to take a few months off and would just be able to handle email we would not have had an issue.  Could you have all the big stuff resolved before baby comes and then just offer reduced support for a bit? (I’m assuming baby won’t be coming during a critical time like tax season or something)

hoff079

I could take care of some annual reviews in advance, but if something happens in the market I need to be available.  I have an assistant, but she's not licensed.  And, you never know when something big is going to come up.  I don't have a licensed backup....sigh.  

meggyme

@hoff079 is that something you could work on in the next few months? Finding a licensed back up?